Police increase presence in the Downtown Core

**TIMMINS POLICE SERVICE NEWS RELEASE**

Timmins Police Service Inspector Blanchette has recently spearheaded a return to a “back to the basics” approach to policing by conducting foot patrols with the TPS platoon Staff Sergeants.

This initiative is designed to bolster the police presence in the downtown core and specific identified problematic areas with chronic police calls for service.

it also allows for members of the public to reach out and express their concerns directly to the police.

As it happens, yesterday proved to be a productive patrol in terms of Insp. Blanchette and Staff-Sgt Bouffard locating a male subject in the throes of a full-on overdose crisis within 10 minutes of their foot patrol.

The incident resulted in an “all hands on deck” response by foot patrol officers and platoon officers to perform basic first aid responses to the person in need.

These measures continued up until EMS paramedics attended the scene to take the person in an overdose crisis to the hospital for more intensive medical treatment.

The rigors of modern policing are quite demanding.

That said, walking the beat or “foot patrol” is in fact “old school” policing but it still is a highly effective use of policing resources by the Timmins Police Service.